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Mercury, all forms

In the body: EFSA sets a separate weekly limit for inorganic mercury, 4 µg per kg of body weight, and found that Europeans’ intake from food stays below it.

Not rated by dose: a flag on 8 reviewed foods, among them calcium-set tofu, pasta and Whey protein concentrate. The list below has a line for each of 9 preparations.

Background. Shown, not scored: no dose basis at normal intake, a classification rather than a risk, or legal limits only.

This counts every form of mercury together, measured in foods other than fish. It has no reference value, so it is shown, not scored. Methylmercury, the form rated in fish, has its own page. See also: Methylmercury

All hazards

The reference value and where it comes from

Reviewed foods that carry it

8 reviewed foods carry it; none is rated by dose. A food counts once, as in the foods list: preparations sharing a page (raw and cooked, canned) count once; one with its own page counts apart. Below, one line for each of 9 preparations.

How often you can eat it

No food here is rated by dose. Each line says why it’s listed: a flag for the people the source names, advice on handling it, or context.

Flags and context, not rated by dose

  • Avocado, raw

    Not rated yet

    US FDA Total Diet Study (2018–2020) · grade B

    How it’s rated

    Not rated: two sources disagree by two orders of magnitude, and one paper's units are internally inconsistent. EFSA's methylmercury limit (1.3 µg/kg body weight/week) is driven by fish; mercury in plants is mostly inorganic.

    Intake: not applicable (flag) · Level in the food: 0.13 µg/kg (mean, n = 27)

    Measured on: food-specific: FDA TDS #97, 3 detects of 27 (max 1.3 ppb), reporting limit 1 ppb. A US-market Hass paper reports mesocarp Hg 'elevated': maximum 0.012-0.021 mg/kg fresh weight after moisture adjustment (the paper's MAXIMUM: 92-160x the FDA MEAN, 9-16x the FDA max of 1.3) while its own Table 1 geometric means are 1.5-2.6 ng/g DRY weight (about 0.4-0.7 ng/g fresh); Peru 2025 pulp Hg up to 0.167 mg/kg DW.

  • Mushrooms, raw

    Not rated yet

    US FDA Total Diet Study (2018–2020) · grade A

    How it’s rated

    Context: total mercury in a non-fish food; methylmercury is rated only in fish. At 85 g the intake is about 0.15 µg.

    Intake: not applicable (flag) · Level in the food: 1.8 ppb (mean, n = 27)

    Measured on: FDA TDS FY2018-2020, 'Mushrooms, raw', 27 samples, 25 detected, max 3.5 ppb; total mercury (not methylmercury)

  • Pasta, cooked

    Not rated yet

    US FDA Total Diet Study (2018–2020) · grade B

    How it’s rated

    not rated: no Canadian value; the FDA non-detect (RL 1 ppb, n = 3) is not a rating.

    Intake: one 215 g cooked serving a day, 70 kg adult

    Measured on: no pasta rows for mercury in the Canadian TDS trace-element resource (query returned 0 rows for FF16); FDA TDS #347 spaghetti, enriched, boiled: mercury not detected 0/3 (RL 1 ppb)

  • Sauerkraut

    Not rated yet

    US FDA Total Diet Study (2018–2020) · grade B

    How it’s rated

    Related-food FDA result is all non-detects; no sauerkraut data; not rated.

    Intake: one 30 g serving a day, 70 kg adult

    Measured on: Canadian TDS trace-element file returned 0 cabbage rows for mercury (mercury 1998/2000 is a separate dataset, not queried). FDA TDS FY18-20 #406 'Cabbage, raw': 0 of 27 detected (reporting limit 1 ppb)

  • Ground turkey, 93% lean, cooked

    Context

    US FDA Total Diet Study (2018–2020) · grade A

    How it’s rated

    Context (mercury in a non-fish food). Not detected.

    Intake: 60 g cooked serving (HC TRA L.7)

    Measured on: US FDA TDS FY2018-2020, TDS food 390 'Turkey, ground, pan-cooked'

  • Pork chop, pan-fried

    Context

    US FDA Total Diet Study (2018–2020) · grade A

    How it’s rated

    Context (mercury in a non-fish food; methylmercury is rated in fish). Nothing to rate: not detected.

    Intake: 100 g cooked serving (HC TRA L.6)

    Measured on: US FDA Total Diet Study FY2018-2020 elements supplement, TDS food 18 'Pork chop, pan-cooked with oil', 27 samples, Detects 0, Non-detects 27, reporting limit 1 ppb

  • Tofu, calcium-set

    Context

    US FDA Total Diet Study (2018–2020) · grade B

    How it’s rated

    Context only: not detected at reporting limit 1 µg/kg

    Intake: one 85 g serving a day, 70 kg adult · Level in the food: 1 µg/kg (reporting limit (single non-detect), n = 1)

    Measured on: food-specific: FDA TDS #547, mercury not detected

  • Whey protein concentrate

    Context

    CFIA 2018 · grade B

    How it’s rated

    Context only: total mercury, not methylmercury, so no methylmercury limit applies. Category of all protein types.

    Intake: not applicable (flag) · Level in the food: 0.002 ppm (mean (all samples, non-detects = 0), n = 196)

    Measured on: CFIA targeted survey 'Toxic Metals in Selected Foods', April 2018 to March 2019, product 'Protein Powder' (ALL protein types, plant and rice included; whey cannot be separated), n = 196 samples in the open-data rows (the report counts 195): 72 domestic, 34 imported, 90 origin unknown; bought in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary; results in µg/g (= ppm) 'as sold'. Mean recomputed from the CKAN rows with non-detects as 0 (lower bound); the report's own average uses quantifiable results only.

  • Whey protein isolate

    Context

    CFIA 2018 · grade B

    How it’s rated

    Context only: total mercury, not methylmercury, so no methylmercury limit applies. Category of all protein types.

    Intake: not applicable (flag) · Level in the food: 0.002 ppm (mean (all samples, non-detects = 0), n = 196)

    Measured on: CFIA targeted survey 'Toxic Metals in Selected Foods', April 2018 to March 2019, product 'Protein Powder' (ALL protein types, plant and rice included; whey cannot be separated), n = 196 samples in the open-data rows (the report counts 195): 72 domestic, 34 imported, 90 origin unknown; bought in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary; results in µg/g (= ppm) 'as sold'. Mean recomputed from the CKAN rows with non-detects as 0 (lower bound); the report's own average uses quantifiable results only.

Sources